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Human Rights Watch
273 Million Children Out of School
A new United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report delivers a sobering message: the number of children out of school has risen for the seventh consecutive year, reaching 273 million worldwide.
While nearly 90 percent of children globally complete primary school, the greatest gaps are in early learning and secondary education. Most out-of-school children—194 million—are of secondary school age, and roughly one-third of young people worldwide do not complete secondary school. At current rates, UNESCO estimates the world will not achieve 95 percent upper secondary completion until 2105.
Children are also missing out on early childhood education. Only 60 percent of primary school students have had at least one year of pre-primary education; a critical stage when children’s brains are developing most rapidly. In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than one in four children of pre-primary age are enrolled.
For many of these children, cost remains the primary barrier to schooling. While primary education is nearly universally free, in line with international law, families are often required to pay for preschool and secondary schooling. In Uganda, for example, where there is no publicly funded preschool system, Human Rights Watch and the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights found that a majority of children miss out, because private preschool fees are prohibitively expensive for most families.
These findings underscore the need for a new international treaty to guarantee free pre-primary and secondary education for all children. Under current international law, free education is explicitly guaranteed only at the primary level.
Formal consideration of such a treaty, an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, began at the UN last year and more than 60 countries have already expressed support.
A treaty will not bring every child into school overnight. But one that clearly guarantees free education can serve as a powerful catalyst for change, pressing governments to ensure that every child can attend school, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
When states reconvene in Geneva this August, they should seize the opportunity to close a longstanding gap in international law and open the door to a better future for millions of children.
Trump Administration Wields New Threat to Reproductive Rights
The Trump administration is using a US federal funding provision to make abortion care less accessible, threatening states with devastating federal funding cuts for protecting the right to abortion.
The provision, known as the Weldon Amendment and attached to federal spending bills since 2005, is meant to prevent states from treating differently under state law health care providers, practitioners, and insurance plans who refuse to provide abortion care.
Although the Weldon Amendment’s emphasis on the prerogatives of such providers has always been misguided, the administration’s aggressive use of the provision is a new and dangerous turn.
In January, the Trump administration threatened the US state of Illinois with funding cuts over its policies requiring healthcare providers who refuse abortion care due to conscientious objection to refer patients to providers who can. An additional 13 states are under investigation for policies that aim to secure wider access to abortion care, which could result in devastating consequences including perhaps even the loss of all their federal health funding. This puts women’s health care and the millions of Americans who rely on federally funded health centers at risk.
Human Rights Watch has documented in Argentina and Romania how weakly regulated and inconsistently applied conscientious objection provisions can prevent women and girls from finding safe and timely health care and how women from marginalized groups have fewer resources to access alternative care in a timely manner.
Since the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, 13 states now enforce total abortion bans, while others impose harsh limits on when a pregnancy can be ended. Dangerous delays and restrictions on abortion have led to women dying from preventable deaths after being denied timely care.
The Weldon Amendment is not only a threat to women’s health, it is also inconsistent with international human rights standards on conscientious objection. Under these standards, only individual providers should be able to exercise conscientious objections, not institutions – which is not the case under Weldon. Secondly, states should ensure conscientious objection does not become a barrier to health care access, guaranteeing that a provider who refuses care must also make referrals in a timely manner.
Everyone has the right to health, which requires access to the best possible quality health care, and access to abortion is an essential component of this right. The US Congress should repeal the Weldon Amendment, ensuring it can no longer be weaponized to restrict the right to health.
Cuba’s Prisoner Release Excludes Critics
On April 2, the Cuban government announced the release of 2,010 prisoners, framing it as a “humanitarian gesture.” While the announcement raised hopes among many political prisoners’ families, neither Human Rights Watch nor other civil society groups, including Prisoners Defenders and Justicia 11J, have identified any political prisoners among those released.
In its announcement, the Cuban government said it would exclude, among others, people sentenced for “crimes against authority.” Under Cuban law, these include crimes such as “contempt,” “propaganda,” and “assault” that the government has used for decades to target and arbitrarily prosecute critics.
Over 700 political prisoners remain behind bars in Cuba, according to groups like Justicia 11J and Prisoners Defenders, and hundreds more face house arrest and other restrictions. Among them is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, an artist who was sentenced to five years in prison for “insulting national symbols,” among other crimes, after wearing a Cuban flag on his shoulders in protest of a new law on the use of national symbols. He was detained after posting a video saying he would join the landmark July 2021 protests.
In March 2026, Leonard Richard González Alfonso, also an artist, was sentenced to seven years for “propaganda against the constitutional order” after painting “How long? They are killing us” on a wall.
Former detainees released after Vatican-led negotiations in January 2025 reported abuse in Cuban prisons, including beatings, solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, and lack of access to food and clean water. Many of those released told Human Rights Watch they remain under constant surveillance and restrictive conditions, and fear being arrested again. At least seven political prisoners have since been sent back to prison for actions such as posting critical content online or failing to appear before the authorities.
Cuba should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners. Cubans should be able to express themselves freely, without fear. The US embargo and its brutal oil blockade are no excuse to keep critics in jail.
Sudan: Arbitrary Detention by Army, Security Forces
(Nairobi) – Security and military forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated civilians in areas under their control, and denied them due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today.
Security and army forces have detained civilians for allegedly collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in conflict with the military, particularly in areas over which the military has regained control, and often based merely on their ethnic identity, real or perceived political affiliation, or humanitarian work. Unlawful deprivation of liberty, ill-treatment, and torture of civilians may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“The Sudanese Armed Forces and its allies have led a campaign of fear and retaliation against people they label collaborators, because of their identity, humanitarian work, or political activity or simply for having lived under the Rapid Support Forces’ control,” said Mohamed Osman, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Accounts by former detainees, their relatives, and lawyers paint a grim picture of arbitrary abuses emboldened by a climate of impunity.”
The Sudanese military and affiliated forces have held detainees incommunicado, leaving families with limited information about, or access to, their loved ones, and in some cases forcibly disappeared people, Human Rights Watch found. Prosecutorial and judicial oversight is inadequate, and detainees have no or limited access to legal counsel. Human Rights Watch was told about at least two deaths from torture and ill-treatment in custody. The authorities are presumed responsible for deaths in custody, creating an obligation to conduct prompt, impartial, and effective investigations.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 28 people, including 7 former detainees, 9 relatives of detainees, 11 lawyers and activists, and a member of the security forces, between June 2025 and February 2026. They described abuses against men and women detained by the SAF and its affiliates in areas controlled by the army or that the army retook from the RSF since 2024, including Khartoum, Gezira, Gedaref, Red Sea, and Northern states.
Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch wrote to the office of the chairperson of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, and the Office of the Attorney General on March 18, 2026, about its findings. Both offices responded on April 2. In her response, the attorney general rejected the allegations of arbitrary arrests and custodial deaths with the exception of one case in which she acknowledged that criminal proceedings are ongoing but did not provide details on those accused.
While reports suggest that some of the abuse has been reduced, abusive detention persists with weak prosecutorial or judicial oversight.
Those interviewed said that multiple forces organized into so-called security cells have been involved in unlawful detentions. The security cells include the General Intelligence Service, Military Intelligence, and on occasion a military-affiliated militia, the al-Baraa Ibn Malik battalion.
A police officer who had been integrated into a security cell in Omdurman, part of Greater Khartoum, the capital, said that in April 2025, he saw his fellow cell members ill-treat a woman, accusing her of collaborating with the RSF: “We rode in three vehicles [to her house]. Two men from al-Baraa Ibn Malik battalion barged into her house, armed, and soon brought her out half naked, beating her, slapping [her] on the face, before throwing her in the back of one of our pick-up trucks.”
Rights groups have also documented the detention of hundreds of women on charges of collaborating with the RSF based on their ethnicity or residence, with at least 25 sentenced to death. In January 2026, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military leader, visited Omdurman’s women’s prison and ordered the release of 400 women, including some accused of collaboration, and instructed officials to review the status of detainees’ case in prisons. However, lawyers and monitors said that many women remain in detention in Omdurman and other prisons without due process.
A 35-year-old woman and her two brothers fled to Port Sudan from Gezira state, which in late February 2024 was controlled by the RSF. Security cell officers in Port Sudan detained them, accusing them of being collaborators. “I was beaten everywhere, despite pleading that I have diabetes,” the woman said. “They kept beating and slapping me with their hands and sticks and whips and insulting me. I felt so degraded, as if I was not a human anymore. They beat me until I involuntarily defecated on myself.” The woman was released after a week, without charge, and fled the country.
Former detainees and lawyers said that security cells, as well as Military Intelligence acting alone, have unlawfully held people in military facilities, including military bases, as well as in homes converted into detention sites. The attorney general in her response denied both allegations, saying detainees are only held in police custody or prisons and subject to regular visits by public prosecutors to assess detention conditions in accordance with the law.
Among those recently arbitrarily detained is a 25-year-old man who was arrested by armed men, some in military uniform, at his home in early February 2026 and then forcibly disappeared: “They came into the house and started beating him badly, accusing him of being a collaborator,” said his 40-year-old brother. “We asked where they are taking him, but they refused to say. One said: ‘You better move on; your brother is not coming back.’” He said he believed his brother was detained because he took part in protests during the military coup in 2021. The last time the family saw the 25-year-old was in custody of the local security cell as they took him away, and as of March 9, despite multiple efforts to establish his situation and whereabouts, he remained forcibly disappeared.
The evidence indicates that the military has targeted individuals based on their identity, focusing on people from Darfur, western Sudan, whom they profile as collaborators since the RSF originates from Darfur. One detained man told Human Rights Watch that he and other Darfuris sheltering in Khartoum were beaten and detained by security cell members, who said: “You Darfuris are troublemakers; you brought the war to us here.”
The military and affiliates have also appear to have targeted civil society members, including local aid responders, accusing them of collaboration. A responder working in east Khartoum said after the military regained control of the area in March 2025, security cell forces interrogated members of his volunteer group and forcefully evicted displaced civilians from their shelter. He said that in April, they detained him for 17 days, interrogating him about the soup kitchens the group ran and their funding sources. The attorney general denies such targeting.
The Office of the Attorney General, working with the judiciary, should immediately release all unlawfully detained people and grant independent monitors and investigators access to formal and informal detention sites. With April 15 marking three years since the conflict’s outbreak, it is past time that authorities granted full and unfettered access to the country for the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan and the Joint Fact-Finding Mission on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan mandated by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The attorney general has reasserted the position that there is no need for the Fact-Finding Mission as the office and local authorities are carrying out investigations and there is no need for any international investigative mechanisms.
International and regional actors and entities should publicly call on the military leadership and affiliated authorities to end their discriminatory targeting of communities and categories of people, including local volunteers, ensure that any legal proceedings are based on credible evidence, and strictly follow due process.
In late February, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands formed a Sudan atrocity prevention coalition. This body should take concrete steps to address the abusive detention practices, including ongoing arrests on the basis of ethnicity, humanitarian work, or political activism. They should support ongoing investigations and press for independent access to detention facilities, and support efforts to expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to cover the whole of Sudan.
“The authorities should end arbitrary detentions and provide redress to detainees and their families,” Osman said. “International and regional actors should make clear to the Sudanese Armed Forces leadership that they will be held to account for these abuses.”
For more information on the Sudanese Armed Forces abuses against detainees, please see below.
History of Abusive Detention, Impunity
Sudan’s security forces have a long history of abusing detainees, especially those detained for their actual or perceived political affiliation, because of their association with pro-democracy and protest movements, or because they are from Darfur and perceived to be affiliated with Darfuri armed groups.
In 2008, Human Rights Watch documented fair trial violations connected to ethnic targeting of Darfuris in Khartoum following a rebel group attack. In 2018, at the start of the protests that ended Omar al-Bashir’s presidency, security forces rounded up over 30 Darfuri students in Sennar state, accusing them of affiliation with armed opposition groups and reportedly tortured them.
Reports of abusive detention by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have circulated throughout the three-year-long conflict. Human Rights Watch previously found that both warring parties have summarily executed detainees in areas under their control.
Between January and June 2025, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights “confirmedv at least 10 deaths in custody of individuals detained by both RSF and SAF during the reporting period, including a well-known Sudanese football player, volunteer medics, and local humanitarian volunteers.”
The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan reported in September 2025 that military arrests “were mainly based on suspicion of collaboration with the Rapid Support Forces.”
‘Security Cells’
Since the conflict began, and especially as the army began to regain control of territory in 2024, state governors in military-controlled areas have established “security cells,” consisting of members of the police, the General Intelligence Services, Military Intelligence, and in some cases, al-Baraa Ibn Malik Brigade.
In May 2024, the Khartoum governor declared a state of emergency in the capital and announced the formation of a security cell to gather information, conduct raids, and detain people suspected of posing a security threat. The announcement did not clarify the legal basis on which the cells would operate, or any legal constraints such as compliance with human rights law including due process. The attorney general replied to Human Rights Watch that security cells are formed by state governors based on emergency laws.
In most cases documented, those arrested by security cells and other forces were unlawfully held in housing used as ad hoc detention facilities, although some were held in official military sites. The attorney general, citing the law and claiming bias against the military, has denied housing is used as detention facilities or that civilians are held on military sites. Interviewees said that authorities transferred detainees between premises controlled by different security forces, making it harder for families and lawyers to track their whereabouts.
Abuse
The abuses documented occurred in areas that have been under army control throughout the conflict – including parts of Omdurman, River Nile state, Northern state, Gedaref state, and Red Sea state – and areas previously under RSF control, including Gezira state and the south of Khartoum, after the military and allies retook them in January 2025, and Khartoum itself, where the military regained control in March 2025.
Custodial Death, Torture, and Ill-treatment
Human Rights Watch documented five cases of torture, inhumane, cruel, and degrading treatment by security forces affiliated with the military and two reported deaths in custody.
A 39-year-old man said that soldiers stopped him at a checkpoint in the western part of Omdurman, one of Khartoum’s three sister cities, in December 2025. They accused him of moving supplies to RSF controlled areas, detained him, and beat him as they took him to an unofficial detention site.
“They took me to a room and three SAF forces interrogated me, saying that as I work as a trader, I must be smuggling food to Kordofan [region, currently one of the conflict’s main front lines]. One of them kept punching me in the chest really hard. Another accused me of being a spy and a traitor and said I will never see the sun again. I was kept there for around 12 hours with no food then was released after they took my money – I had US$200 on me.”
A local responder in Gedaref state, which has been under army control throughout the conflict, was detained for 55 days. He said armed men in civilian clothes arrested him on April 9, 2024, and took him to the town’s security cell premises. There, officers from both General Intelligence Services and Military Intelligence interrogated him about his activism and tortured him:
In the corner of the office, there was a pit of sand; they dragged me there, tied my hands behind my back and covered my eyes with my shirt, and started beating me. Two were pulling my legs down and one was pushing my head down with his shoe and the other was beating me on my back. Every few minutes when I started to pass out, they would throw cold water on me. I was beaten so badly I started vomiting and bleeding. This continued for more than 30 to 40 minutes.
He received no medical care during his detention.
A humanitarian volunteer said that military forces stopped him at a checkpoint in October 2024 in a part of Omdurman then under army control. They drove him to a house where people who said they were from Military Intelligence interrogated him:
Two men came to me, one with an iron rod and one with a hammer. The one with the iron rod asked me to raise my feet up and started beating me on my bare feet. The other man started to beat me with the hammer all over my body. He also hit me on the head with a wooden plank. They kept beating me until I lost consciousness.
He said he was detained for five days and as of October 7, 2025, when he was interviewed, he continued to need medical treatment because of the torture.
Salah al-Tayeb, a lawyer and opposition party member, reportedly died in Military Intelligence custody in May 2024. Intelligence services in al-Azazi village in Gezira state in central Sudan detained him on April 17, 2024, and held him at a school in the village. A former detainee who had been held in the same cell said he saw intelligence officers beat al-Tayeb and question him about his political activism: “I saw [him] being beaten for a long time, then he was taken to a separate room. [Officers] beat him from 10 p.m. to midnight. I heard him screaming. His screams stopped after midnight.” Al-Tayeb’s family was later told he died in custody on May 5, 2024, based on media and rights groups reports.
The attorney general rejected allegations of custodial deaths resulting from ill-treatment and torture however said that in the case of the death of al-Tayeb, immunity of the perpetrators had been lifted and that a trial is ongoing.
Security cell members detained a resident of East Nile district in Khartoum in April 2025, shortly after the military regained control of the area. He said he saw a detainee being severely beaten in a military intelligence facility in eastern Khartoum:
Military Intelligence brought in someone who was already badly beaten … he was unconscious. He was bleeding from his back and his head. That day, a major or high-ranking officer visited. The soldiers and officers locked the detained man in the bathroom and ordered him not make any noise until the visit was completed. When they opened the bathroom a few hours later, he was in bad condition. He died in the morning.
At least three former detainees said they were also denied access to adequate food, toilet facilities, or medical care. A 28-year-old man who fled the fighting in Khartoum to Gedaref state said he was detained for 15 days by military personnel. During this time, he said, “…[We] were given only one meal a day, consisting of lentils. We were denied access to the bathroom for 48 hours, so I avoided eating to prevent the need to use the bathroom.”
Targeting Based on Assumptions about Ethnicity
Security forces have targeted people based on their ethnicity or for their real or perceived political activism, accusing them of collaborating with the RSF. They include rights defenders and local aid responders as well as political activists. The Attorney-General denied any targeting on such grounds, without specifically addressing allegations and findings shared by Human Rights Watch.
A 44-year-old man originally from Darfur was in a house with other Darfuris in Omdurman, having escaped an area of Khartoum controlled by the RSF. He said armed men, who later identified themselves as security cell members, broke into the house in May 2025:
One fighter said, ‘You Darfuris are troublemakers; you brought the war to us here.’ I said, ‘It is the [RSF] who killed my people in the past…. We have nothing to do with them.’ They started slapping us and hitting us with the butts of their guns. We were thrown like animals into the back of the trucks.
Individuals taken from the house were held for over a week in a private house that the security cell had turned into a detention site, where they were beaten and denied medical care, then released.
A woman from Darfur was on a bus from Northern Sudan to Khartoum in April 2024 when a group of military intelligence officers and local forces pulled her and her husband off the bus. She said that once the officers discovered she and her husband were Massalit [a non-Arab community from West Darfur], they “called a car, covered our eyes and took us to the 19th military division.” She was released the same day and left for Egypt shortly afterward. Her husband remained in detention. When she returned in April 2025, soldiers at the military base told her that her husband had died in detention.
In April 2025, the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies reported an uptick in unlawful detention and torture by the military which they attributed mainly to Military Intelligence targeting women human rights defenders, aid workers, and displaced people from Darfur, in Sinjah town, following the army’s retaking of Sennar state in November 2024.
The attorney general told Human Rights Watch that there is no targeting based on ethnicity, or affiliation with specific states.
Targeting Based on Humanitarian Work, Political Activism
Three former detainees said that forces detained them because they were local responders or associated with pro-democracy groups. Since the outbreak of the conflict, humanitarian volunteers, many organized in Emergency Response Rooms, have faced attacks and reprisals from both warring parties.
The local volunteer from Gedaref said: “The officers [his interrogators] said to me, ‘You are from the [Emergency Response Rooms], we know you send the reports and spy for the RSF, you are political supporters of the RSF.”
The man detained in Omdurman in 2024, said he was targeted based on his activism. “A military intelligence officer took my phone and forced me to unlock it, he saw pictures from the June 3, 2019, sit-in [ in Khartoum] and pictures of protests the following years. He shouted at me: ‘You belong to the [political opposition]. Sit down.’ And he started to beat me with a machete.”
The attorney general told Human Rights Watch that there is no targeting of humanitarian volunteers.
Incommunicado Detention and Enforced Disappearances
Four former detainees and a detainee’s relative said the military has held detainees incommunicado, meaning that they are not allowed any contact with the outside, with lawyers, family, or friends. Two people whose relatives had been detained by security or intelligence forces said that the authorities refused to acknowledge the detention or provide any information on the detainees’ whereabouts or situation, constituting an enforced disappearance.
One man said that in January 2025, he was unable to locate his 27-year-old brother who had fled to Atbara, River Nile state, from Khartoum. After days of searching, the family heard from officers that he had been arrested at a checkpoint controlled by Military Intelligence, and accused of being an RSF spy:
The Military Intelligence told us my brother was with them and would soon be transferred to the police. Days after, the Military Intelligence denied having him. We have not heard anything further. We are fearing the worst.
As of January 2026, the brother is still apparently detained, but the authorities have neither confirmed it nor provided information on his whereabouts or fate to his family or lawyer.
Another man said in July 2025 that his family had informed him that army and security forces detained his father on January 14, 2025, in Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state, central Sudan.
For two months, the family had no information about the father’s whereabouts. Eventually, they received information from contacts in the security forces that the father had been detained by a security cell, had been seen in the General Intelligence Services office in a nearby town, and was then moved to a hospital as his health deteriorated. The family heard that he had developed a kidney infection due to detention conditions. The family said they heard that he was transferred to another detention facility in Madani on May 26. However, when interviewed in July 2025, they still had no confirmed information on his detention, his whereabouts or fate.
Death Penalty Cases Involving Due Process Violations
Lawyers and human rights defenders said that the authorities have sentenced civilians to death following detention and trials that violated multiple due process and fair trial guarantees, including little or no access to legal counsel. The military and affiliated authorities have charged people with collaboration using two offenses from the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code, both punishable by death: article 50, undermining the constitutional system, and article 51, waging war against the state.
Khadm Allah Musa, a 23-year-old woman, was sentenced to death by a court in Khartoum on August 18, 2025, for collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces. A lawyer who worked on her defense team said the authorities “interrogated her throughout without being allowed legal counsel.”
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in June 2025 that Sudanese courts handed down at least 108 death sentences between January and late June 2025, predominantly for alleged collaboration with the Rapid Support Forces. It also raised concerns that people from Darfur and Kordofan were disproportionately prosecuted and sentenced, particularly on allegations of affiliation with the Rapid Support Forces.
Decorated Australian Soldier Arrested for Afghanistan War Crimes
On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.
For victims of abuses in Afghanistan, this is a long-awaited but significant step toward accountability.
Almost six years have passed since the release of the Independent Afghanistan Inquiry (known as the Brereton Report), which detailed alleged war crimes committed by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan spanning 2005 to 2016. So far no one has stood trial for these crimes, and no victims or their families are known to have been compensated.
In March 2023, Australian police made their first arrest of a soldier for war crimes in Afghanistan. Oliver Schulz is accused of murdering an Afghan civilian in 2012; however, his trial, which has been plagued by delays, will not begin until 2027.
In addition to identifying some of the alleged war crimes that led to Schulz and Roberts-Smith’s arrests, the Brereton Report recommended the Australian government pay compensation to survivors and families of victims unlawfully killed without waiting for the establishment of individual criminal liability.
After many years of advocacy by victims and rights groups, in October 2024 the Department of Defence laid out a compensation scheme for victims and family members of victims of incidents identified in the report. However, the scheme falls short, lacking due process safeguards, clear criteria on compensation, and a requirement to inform and consult with victims. There is currently no publicly available information indicating that any compensation has been paid.
Despite the sluggish pace of justice for Afghan victims, Roberts-Smith’s arrest sends a powerful message to Australia’s armed forces that even those deemed “war heroes” are not above the law. It also sets a striking example for other countries about the importance of adhering to international law and pressing for accountability, no matter how long it takes. This latest arrest should be backed by continuing efforts to identify and hold accountable all those responsible for war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and to ensure victims receive their rightful compensation.
Kazakhstan: Feminist Activist Facing Criminal Charges
(Berlin, April 6, 2026) – Kazakhstan’s prosecuting authorities have filed criminal charges for battery against a feminist activist who was aggressively accosted at a café in Astana, the capital, while meeting with feminist and queer colleagues and friends, Human Rights Watch said today.
The charges, brought on March 26, 2026, follow an investigation into Zhanar Sekerbayeva, which appears to have been in retaliation for her activism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The first hearing in the case is expected to be on April 7.
“The Kazakh authorities should drop the charges against Sekerbayeva and put an end to the manufactured case against her,” said Mihra Rittmann, Central Asia adviser at Human Rights Watch. “No one in Kazakhstan should fear criminal retaliation for being lesbian or for peacefully advocating for the rights of LGBT people.”
Sekerbayeva is co-founder of the feminist initiative Feminita and a prominent advocate for the rights of women and LGBT people. In recent years, she has repeatedly faced harassment, threats, and arbitrary detention in retaliation for her peaceful activism.
Police detained Sekerbayeva and a fellow activist, Temirlan Baimash, after a group of people showed up at a café in Astana on November 22, 2025, and accosted Sekerbayeva, Baimash, and others. They shouted anti-LGBT slurs, filmed attendees without consent, and behaved very aggressively toward some of the activists, including Sekerbayeva. One of the women involved in causing the disruption, Ziuar Zhumanova, filed a complaint with the police. So did both Sekerbayeva and Baimash.
In the months since, police appear to have carried out a one-sided investigation based solely on Zhumanova’s complaint. The authorities do not appear to have taken any action in response to Sekerbayeva’s and Baimash’s complaints or to hold accountable any of the people who accosted them at the café that day.
On February 12, Sekerbayeva filed a second complaint with the police, asking them to pursue administrative sanctions against Zhumanova for causing the disturbance, blocking and pushing Sekerbayeva, and injuring her arm. Sekerbayeva has publicly alleged that police have committed procedural violations in handling her complaint, including failing to consider her evidence, and said that the case against her is fabricated, politically motivated, and in retaliation for her peaceful activism for the rights of LGBT people.
Baimash, co-founder of the youth-led initiative QUEER KZ, told Human Rights Watch that the police similarly ignored his complaints that he and his friends and colleagues at the café were the victims of the attack, and instead detained and interrogated him in a hostile manner. The authorities do not appear to have made Baimash a target of their investigation, but as a witness, he is still vulnerable to pressure and intimidation by police.
The environment for LGBT rights activism in Kazakhstan has become increasingly hostile in recent months. Legislation banning so-called propaganda of nontraditional sexual orientation was adopted in December 2025 and took effect in March 2026, putting LGBT rights advocates, and others working on nondiscrimination, at increased risk of harassment and prosecution.
Kazakhstan is bound under international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it is a party, to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association, and due process. It is also bound to safeguard the rights of human rights defenders and not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The so-called LGBT-propaganda law is blatantly discriminatory, violates freedom of expression, and has no place in a rights-respecting country,” Rittmann said. “The authorities have a responsibility to ensure that LGBT people in Kazakhstan and people advocating for their rights can live free from discrimination, harassment, and politically motivated prosecution.”
Kazakhstan: Feminist Activist Facing Criminal Charges
(Berlin, April 6, 2026) – Kazakhstan’s prosecuting authorities have filed criminal charges for battery against a feminist activist who was aggressively accosted at a café in Astana, the capital, while meeting with feminist and queer colleagues and friends, Human Rights Watch said today.
The charges, brought on March 26, 2026, follow an investigation into Zhanar Sekerbayeva, which appears to have been in retaliation for her activism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The first hearing in the case is expected to be on April 7.
“The Kazakh authorities should drop the charges against Sekerbayeva and put an end to the manufactured case against her,” said Mihra Rittmann, Central Asia adviser at Human Rights Watch. “No one in Kazakhstan should fear criminal retaliation for being lesbian or for peacefully advocating for the rights of LGBT people.”
Sekerbayeva is co-founder of the feminist initiative Feminita and a prominent advocate for the rights of women and LGBT people. In recent years, she has repeatedly faced harassment, threats, and arbitrary detention in retaliation for her peaceful activism.
Police detained Sekerbayeva and a fellow activist, Temirlan Baimash, after a group of people showed up at a café in Astana on November 22, 2025, and accosted Sekerbayeva, Baimash, and others. They shouted anti-LGBT slurs, filmed attendees without consent, and behaved very aggressively toward some of the activists, including Sekerbayeva. One of the women involved in causing the disruption, Ziuar Zhumanova, filed a complaint with the police. So did both Sekerbayeva and Baimash.
In the months since, police appear to have carried out a one-sided investigation based solely on Zhumanova’s complaint. The authorities do not appear to have taken any action in response to Sekerbayeva’s and Baimash’s complaints or to hold accountable any of the people who accosted them at the café that day.
On February 12, Sekerbayeva filed a second complaint with the police, asking them to pursue administrative sanctions against Zhumanova for causing the disturbance, blocking and pushing Sekerbayeva, and injuring her arm. Sekerbayeva has publicly alleged that police have committed procedural violations in handling her complaint, including failing to consider her evidence, and said that the case against her is fabricated, politically motivated, and in retaliation for her peaceful activism for the rights of LGBT people.
Baimash, co-founder of the youth-led initiative QUEER KZ, told Human Rights Watch that the police similarly ignored his complaints that he and his friends and colleagues at the café were the victims of the attack, and instead detained and interrogated him in a hostile manner. The authorities do not appear to have made Baimash a target of their investigation, but as a witness, he is still vulnerable to pressure and intimidation by police.
The environment for LGBT rights activism in Kazakhstan has become increasingly hostile in recent months. Legislation banning so-called propaganda of nontraditional sexual orientation was adopted in December 2025 and took effect in March 2026, putting LGBT rights advocates, and others working on nondiscrimination, at increased risk of harassment and prosecution.
Kazakhstan is bound under international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it is a party, to guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association, and due process. It is also bound to safeguard the rights of human rights defenders and not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The so-called LGBT-propaganda law is blatantly discriminatory, violates freedom of expression, and has no place in a rights-respecting country,” Rittmann said. “The authorities have a responsibility to ensure that LGBT people in Kazakhstan and people advocating for their rights can live free from discrimination, harassment, and politically motivated prosecution.”
Singapore: Drop Charges against Human Rights Defender
(London) – The Singaporean government should immediately drop all charges against a human rights activist, Jolovan Wham, for organizing and participating in peaceful gatherings, Human Rights Watch, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Amnesty International, and CIVICUS said today.
Wham is scheduled to stand trial at Singapore’s State Court on April 6, 2026, facing three charges under the Public Order Act for his alleged participation in candlelight vigils commemorating death row prisoners between 2022 and 2025 that were held without a police permit.
Singaporean authorities frequently use overly broad and restrictive laws—including the Public Order Act—to restrict individuals’ rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, and to silence criticism of the government, particularly regarding its use of the death penalty. The persistent legal harassment of Wham and other human rights defenders and anti-death penalty activists is part of a wider crackdown on dissent that has stifled informed public debate on capital punishment in Singapore.
Under the Public Order Act, any “cause-related” assembly requires a police permit—even for an individual acting alone—if it is held in a public place or in a private venue if members of the public are invited. The law also grants the police commissioner broad discretion to reject applications for an assembly “directed towards a political end,” particularly when a foreign national is involved.
Human rights groups have long documented the pattern of judicial harassment of Wham for his activism.
In February 2017, Wham was fined S$8,000 (approximately US$5,900) for organizing a silent protest on a train during the 30th anniversary of Operation Spectrum, a government crackdown on political dissent in 1987, when scores of activists were arrested for allegedly being part of a “Marxist conspiracy” to undermine the government.
In October 2018, the High Court of Singapore found Wham guilty of contempt for a Facebook post in April 2018 in which he questioned the independence of Singapore’s judiciary. He served seven days in jail, instead of paying a S$5,000 (US$3,700) fine.
In January 2019, Wham was convicted for organizing an indoor event called Civil Disobedience and Social Movements. He served 10 days in jail for violating the Public Order Act by not having a permit for a foreigner to speak at the event. At the same time, he was also fined S$1,200 (US$900) for refusing to sign the police statement, he contended that the police refused to provide him with a copy.
In November 2020, Wham faced two charges of staging an “illegal assembly” for holding a cardboard sign with a smiley face drawn on it to show his support for climate activists and for a 2018 protest calling on authorities to drop criminal defamation charges against two journalists and human rights defenders, Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa.
In February 2022, Wham was also fined S$3,000 (US$2,200) for holding an “illegal assembly” by displaying a sign outside the State Courts in 2018 during which he took a photo. Wham opted to serve a 15-day jail sentence instead of paying the fine.
On February 3, 2025, Wham was charged with five additional offenses under the Public Order Act for his alleged participation in candlelight vigils between March 2022 and April 2023. Activists who gathered outside the court on the day of his hearing are currently under investigation, believed to be linked to their peaceful assembly.
The continued criminalization of peaceful assemblies in Singapore directly contravenes international human rights law and standards and is a blatant attempt to silence criticism of the government, including its continued use of capital punishment.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is widely considered to be reflective of customary international law, states in article 20 that “[e]veryone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.” While Singapore has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), article 21 guarantees the right of peaceful assembly.
The statement by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, General Comment No. 37 (2020) states that peaceful assemblies should not be criminalized, and that states must facilitate and protect such gatherings. It also states that “[t]he right of peaceful assembly … [t]ogether with other related rights … constitutes the very foundation of a system of participatory governance based on democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and pluralism.”
On May 12, Singapore’s human rights record will be reviewed by other countries at the UN Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review. During its previous cycle in 2021, Singapore supported several recommendations on peaceful assembly, including to “ensure that laws and policies on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association comply with the relevant international human rights standards.” However, Singapore authorities have continued to file cases against Wham and other activists for their peaceful activism under the draconian Public Order Act.
The Singaporean authorities should immediately drop all charges against Wham and other activists who are being prosecuted solely for exercising their right to peaceful assembly, and cease any further judicial harassment against Wham, Human Rights Watch, FORUM-ASIA, Amnesty International, and CIVICUS said.
The Singaporean government should also ratify the ICCPR and its optional protocols, joining the vast majority of countries worldwide that have already ratified it, and take concrete steps to uphold the right to peaceful assembly.
Mine Ban Treaty Achieves Progress amid Challenges
Since the 1990s conflicts in the Balkans, Croatia suffered from the scourge of landmines, with hundreds of civilians killed and thousands of acres of land inaccessible due to contamination. In March, the country celebrated becoming mine-free, following a US$1.38 billion, 30-year clearance campaign.
Croatia’s story underscores the value of the Mine Ban Treaty and should encourage more countries to join and promote its goals. But on this International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the treaty faces threats from countries withdrawing and from new use of the weapons.
Croatia’s heavy contamination stems from 1991-1995, when the main parties to the conflict used landmines. More than 20 percent of the country was contaminated, barring communities from returning and resulting in an annual economic loss of at least $230 million.
Interior Minister Davor Božinović said, “This is not just a technical success—it is the fulfillment of a moral obligation to the victims of mines and their families. A mine-free Croatia means safer families, better development of rural areas, more farmland, and stronger tourism.”
These successes, a testament to the dedicated work of deminers and sustained government interest, are exactly what the treaty aims to achieve, and the International Day celebrates.
Yet, rather than learning from the experiences of Croatia and the more than 30 mine-affected states parties to the treaty that have cleared their land, some countries have abandoned the effort.
In the past year, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, and Poland withdrew from the treaty, contending that antipersonnel landmines were necessary to protect themselves from Russian aggression. In July, Ukraine also sought to unlawfully suspend its obligations under the treaty.
New use of antipersonnel landmines in Myanmar, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as along Iran’s borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Korea’s border with South Korea, and the contested Thailand-Cambodia border threatens the norm against these weapons.
The International Day for Mine Action affords an opportunity to reflect on the horrific impact of antipersonnel landmines on civilians, the significant improvement in civilians’ lives the treaty has achieved, and the importance of upholding and bolstering opposition to their use. States not party to the treaty should join. All countries should oppose their use and help fund clearance and assistance for victims.
Kids Should Not Be Fighters
The new campaign of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to recruit children as young as 12 for patrols and security checkpoints has been widely condemned. Military recruitment and use of children is a grave violation of children’s rights and a war crime when children are under 15.
The world has come a long way in just a few decades. Today, we have treaties prohibiting the conscription or use of child soldiers in armed conflict and courts to hold those responsible to account. Both the International Criminal Court and the Special Court of Sierra Leone have convicted people, from Congolese warlords to the former Liberian President Charles Taylor, for conscripting and using children under age 15 in war. The Child Soldiers Treaty (an optional protocol under the Convention on the Rights of the Child), ratified by 173 countries, prohibits the conscription of children under age 18 or their use in hostilities. Iran has signed although not ratified it.
Yet more work is needed. Recruiting and using children ages 15-17 is not consistently recognized as a war crime, nor is recruitment outside of situations formally classified as armed conflicts. This excludes situations like Haiti, where criminal groups recruit children to transport weapons, act as lookouts, and participate in kidnapping and fighting. Some 30 to 50 percent of these criminal group members are under 18. Save the Children says children have been recruited for a pair of sneakers.
Countries drafting a new international treaty on crimes against humanity could close that gap. Crimes against humanity are criminal offenses like murder, torture, rape, and slavery committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. Unlike war crimes, they are crimes during peacetime as well as war.
In May 2025, 38 organizations and child rights experts, including Human Rights Watch, endorsed a set of proposals rooted in law and jurisprudence to ensure that a future convention protects children. This month, a new paper from Princeton University’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination argues that recruiting and using children should be among those crimes.
Given global efforts to end the use of child soldiers in war, it shouldn’t be hard to take the next step. Countries have until April 30 to submit proposals to amend the draft treaty. They should use the opportunity to support introducing recruitment and use of children under 18 as a crime against humanity.
Deadly Attack in Nigeria Highlights Persistent Insecurity
On the night of March 29, gunmen attacked the Angwan Rukuba community in Nigeria’s Plateau state, killing over 28 people and injuring many others, according to the state governor. The attack, which targeted a densely populated area, highlights persistent patterns of violence in northern Nigeria, where killings, kidnappings, and limited state protection leave communities extremely vulnerable.
According to news reports, the attackers fired indiscriminately on people as they tried to flee. Authorities described the attack as a criminal act in a conflict-prone area and promised to ensure the perpetrators are found and held to account. They should now follow through and implement effective strategies to identify and respond to threats, protect communities, and ensure justice.
Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, has long experienced recurrent intercommunal violence rooted in tensions over land, political representation, and the contested distinction between “indigene” and “settler” communities. Often framed along ethnic and religious lines, particularly between predominantly Christian farming communities and largely Muslim pastoralist groups, these divisions have fueled ongoing reprisal attacks between the communities. But authorities have failed to break the cycle of violence, refraining from bringing perpetrators of serious crimes in these attacks to justice.
The intercommunal conflict has increasingly overlapped in recent years with bandit-style raids, which are widespread in the North West region and often involve killings and kidnappings for ransom, for which there has been little or no accountability. Armed insurgent groups such as Boko Haram have also carried out horrific attacks in the northern region.
Though circumstances vary by location, the recurring features of these attacks, including indiscriminate killings and weak state responses, demand the authorities’ urgent and comprehensive action. Without stronger protection, genuine accountability, and sustained efforts to address the root causes, countless lives will continue to be lost and cycles of insecurity will persist.
Special Prosecutor’s Death at Critical Moment in Central African Republic
The Central African Republic’s Special Criminal Court announced the death of its first Special Prosecutor, Toussaint Muntazini, on March 25 after a long illness. His passing is a profound loss for victims of serious crimes.
Muntazini, a Congolese military judge and former attorney general of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be remembered as a leader in the fight against impunity in two of the world’s most neglected conflicts. In Congo he was pivotal in advancing the country’s efforts to investigate and prosecute serious crimes through its military courts. As the military’s attorney general at the time, Muntazini was the high-ranking official responsible for overseeing the domestic legal process that facilitated the surrender and transfer of Thomas Lubanga to the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Congo’s Ituri province.
In the Central African Republic, Mutanzini was appointed Special Prosecutor to the Special Criminal Court in 2017. Established in 2015 and integrated into the national domestic system with international support, the court was designed to investigate and prosecute serious violations committed in the country since 2003. After arriving in Bangui, Mutanzini crafted the court’s prosecutorial strategy, and his office went on to open preliminary investigations that led to the court’s first trials.
The Special Criminal Court faced enormous challenges in those early days, operating amid ongoing violence, with limited resources and acute insecurity. Muntazini lived under tight protection and rarely left the court’s compound. But his commitment and determination demonstrated that justice was possible even during an active conflict. The Special Criminal Court’s hybrid model, with national and international staff working side by side, offered a chance for local ownership while drawing on much needed global expertise. The Special Criminal Court complements the ongoing work of the International Criminal Court in the Central African Republic and is proof that justice, while slow, is possible.
Muntazini’s determination helped dismantle the country’s long culture of impunity, where cycles of atrocity have driven conflict for decades. His passing leaves a gap at a pivotal moment, as the court’s mandate faces growing funding pressures. The international community should defend Mutanzini’s legacy by pushing for meaningful justice and accountability efforts in his native Congo while ensuring that the Special Criminal Court has the resources it needs to continue its critical work.
Burkina Faso: Crimes Against Humanity by All Sides
(Nairobi, April 2, 2026) – The Burkina Faso military with its allied militias and an Al Qaeda-linked armed group have killed more than 1,800 civilians and forcibly displaced tens of thousands since 2023, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These atrocities, including the government’s ethnic cleansing of Fulani civilians, amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity for which senior leaders on all sides may be liable.
The 316-page report, “‘None Can Run Away’: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Burkina Faso by All Sides,” documents the devastating impact on civilians of an armed conflict that has received scant global attention. Researchers documented 57 incidents involving Burkinabè military forces and allied militias known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDPs), and the Islamist armed group Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wa al‑Muslimin (JNIM) since the current military junta seized power in September 2022. Human Rights Watch issued a question and answer document to explain the legal issues involved.
Play Video Read a text description of this videoNarrator: There’s a brutal conflict going on in West Africa that many people have never heard of. In Burkina Faso, government forces have been fighting Islamist armed groups for more than a decade. All sides have made attacks on civilians a key part of their strategies, killing thousands. More than 2 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
Soundbite: “That day, 25 people died on the spot. Some were cut up by the impact of the airstrike; others had their heads cut off. Some died from choking on the dust they inhaled after the strike. After the strike, everyone started to flee.”
Narrator: So why haven’t many people heard about this crisis? Burkina Faso’s military government has banned or silenced local and international media and created a climate of fear to deter people from speaking out.
Soundbite: “The VDPs [government-backed militia] surrounded us, they told us to watch what they were going to do. There were people who had been stabbed with iron bars. When they finished stabbing, they slit their throats.”
Narrator: Human Rights Watch spent a year and a half documenting 57 attacks across Burkina Faso. We spoke with nearly 400 witnesses over the phone or in neighboring countries where they had fled and documented the killing of at least 1,800 civilians between 2023 and 2025. But this may be the tip of the iceberg.
Narrator: Since President Ibrahim Traoré took power in a military coup in 2022, he has made the fight against Islamist armed groups his main objective.
Narrator: The military has armed tens of thousands of people in a militia called the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, commonly known as VDPs. If a community has VDPs, JNIM, one of the main Islamist armed groups, often targets the entire population.
And government forces have massacred civilians simply for living in areas that JNIM controls.
Narrator: The military and VDPs have especially targeted ethnic Fulani people whom they accuse of supporting JNIM.
Entire Fulani communities have been attacked and forcibly displaced, and their property looted, acts that amount to ethnic cleansing.
Soundbite: They [VDPs] told us: “It’s [President] Ibrahim Traoré who sent us to kill you.” And they began slitting the throats of people in front of us. They called us “terrorists,” which we are not.
Narrator: Military abuses have fueled recruitment by JNIM and the cycle of retaliatory attacks has led to widespread violence against civilians. All sides have committed abuses that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. To seek justice for these crimes, we needed to identify who was responsible.
Narrator: So, we used AI to go through thousands of hours of footage from Burkina Faso’s state-owned news channel and a social media platform used by JNIM. The software we developed identified key information about JNIM, military units, and the names of people involved in specific attacks. This information, along with witness accounts, allowed us to identify members of the Burkinabé armed forces and JNIM who were in a position of command during each attack.
Narrator: These include: Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, the president of Burkina Faso, and top military commanders. It also includes the leaders of JNIM, such as Iyad Ag Ghaly, Amadou Kouffa, and Jafar Dicko.
Narrator: None have been held accountable. States should investigate these serious international crimes, and the International Criminal Court should bring perpetrators to justice. Accountability and civilian protection cannot wait.
“The scale of atrocities taking place in Burkina Faso is mind-boggling, as is the lack of global attention to this crisis,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The junta is committing horrific abuses itself, failing to hold those responsible on all sides to account, and curtailing reporting to obscure the suffering of civilians caught in the violence.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 450 people in Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Mali, and by phone about grave abuses between January 2023 and August 2025. Researchers also carried out extensive open-source analysis, examining satellite imagery, thousands of hours of audiovisual footage, and official documents to verify incidents and identify commanders on all sides.
April 2, 2026 “None Can Run Away”Under President Ibrahim Traoré, the junta has carried out a broad crackdown on the political opposition, peaceful dissent, and independent media, fostering an atmosphere of terror and severely restricting the flow of information about the conflict and its toll.
Since 2016, JNIM and other Islamist armed groups have waged an insurgency against successive governments in Burkina Faso as part of a broader offensive across Africa’s Sahel region. JNIM has killed civilians and looted property leading the junta to conduct brutal counterinsurgency campaigns.Murder and other grave abuses against civilians, often from communities accused of supporting the opposing side, have become a key tactic of the junta as well as of JNIM.
In one of the deadliest incidents, the Burkinabè military and allied militias killed more than 400 civilians in December 2023 in about 16 villages near the northern town of Djibo during an operation known as “Operation Tchéfari 2 (Warriors’ Honey in Fulfulde).” “[The militia] opened fire,” said a 35-year-old woman. “My two daughters died on the spot.” Bullets seriously injured her and her 9-month-old son. She heard a militia member say: “Make sure no one is breathing before heading out.”
The military and militia have targeted Fulani communities because of their alleged support for Islamist armed groups, resulting in the ethnic cleansing of entire communities.
In November 2023, government-allied militias killed 13 Fulani civilians, including 6 women and 4 children, in the western village of Bassé. “All the bodies, except for that of my son, were grouped together in the courtyard, blindfolded with their torn clothes and their hands tied behind their backs… riddled with bullets,” said a 41-year-old man. “My son …was lying on his stomach. He had been shot in the back of the neck.”
JNIM has used widespread threats and violence to dominate and punish communities as part of efforts to expand territorial control in rural areas. On August 24, 2024, JNIM killed at least 133 civilians, including dozens of children, in the central town of Barsalogho, accusing the whole community of supporting the VDPs.
“[JNIM fighters] shot continuously, as if they had plenty of ammunition,” said a 39-year-old man. “People were falling like flies. They came to exterminate us. They did not spare anyone.” Five of his family members were killed in the attack.
JNIM has besieged dozens of towns and villages across Burkina Faso, blocking the movement of goods and people, resulting in hunger and illness. The armed group has planted improvised explosive devices on roads, and destroyed bridges, water sources, and communications infrastructure.
All sides are responsible for the war crimes of willful killing, attacks on civilians and civilian objects, pillage and looting, and forced displacement, Human Rights Watch found. They have also committed murder and forced displacement as part of attacks on a civilian population, amounting to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch found that President Traoré, supreme commander of the armed forces, and six senior Burkinabè military commanders may be liable as a matter of command responsibility for grave abuses and should be investigated. Iyad Ag Ghaly, the JNIM supreme leader who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes in Mali in 2012-2013, and four JNIM commanders may be liable as a matter of command responsibility for abuses by JNIM in Burkina Faso and should also be investigated.
Members of all warring parties in the country have near-total impunity. Victims and their families said they do not trust national justice institutions or cannot access them. Government officials have either denied or downplayed allegations of abuse, especially by military forces and militias, and failed to conduct credible investigations.
Governments have taken little action in the face of these atrocity crimes, Human Rights Watch said. Burkina Faso’s international partners—including the United Nations, African Union, European Union and its member states, and the United States—should address Burkina Faso’s longstanding cycles of abuse and impunity. They should promote accountability, including by imposing targeted sanctions against abusive commanders that Human Rights Watch identified. The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC should open a preliminary examination into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all parties in Burkina Faso since September 2022.
“The world needs to recognize the magnitude of the atrocities unfolding in Burkina Faso to bring them to an end,” Bolopion said. “Regional bodies and partner governments should work with, and press, Burkina Faso’s authorities to tackle grave abuses by all sides and provide genuine accountability.”
Iran: Thousands of Prisoners at Risk
(Beirut) – Thousands of detainees in Iran, including political prisoners and children, are at risk of injury and death from US and Israelistrikes, as well as atrocities by Iran’s authorities, including mass, arbitrary, and secret executions, Human Rights Watch and Kurdistan Human Rights Network said today.
For decades, Iran’s authorities have carried out large-scale arbitrary detentions with impunity, detaining both real and perceived dissidents as well as debt prisoners. During the weeks preceding the start of the armed conflict on February 28, 2026, Iran’s authorities had carried out mass arbitrary detentions of tens of thousands of protesters, including children, as well as real and perceived dissidents, human rights defenders, lawyers, and medical workers. Many were held in secret and unofficial detention facilities run by security and intelligence bodies and subjected to enforced disappearances.
“Prisoners, including thousands of arbitrarily detained people in Iran, are facing dual threats, violence at the hands of authorities who have a track record of prison massacres and US and Israeli bombs,” said Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Unable to seek safety, detainees, many of whom never should have been detained in the first place, are facing human rights violations, serious injury, and death.”
Human Rights Watch and Kurdistan Human Rights Network spoke with 12 people, including families of prisoners, human rights defenders, and informed sources with knowledge about several prisons, and reviewed reports by other human rights organizations, information shared on social media, official statements, and state media reports.
“We have no options,” said a prisoner whose statement was shared with the organizations. “Here, we can neither protect ourselves from danger nor have [access to] any shelters.”
Since the start of the conflict, detainees, their families, and human rights organizations have repeatedly called on Iran’s authorities to release prisoners, including on humanitarian grounds. While a number of detainees have been released, including after posting exorbitant bail, the authorities have refused to release all those arbitrarily detained, in particular political prisoners, and to grant other prisoners temporary humanitarian leave.
Instead, authorities continue to arrest activists, dissidents, members of ethnic and religious minorities, such as Kurds and Baha’is, and other people for allegedly taking footage or photographs of strikes and sending them to the media. On March 24, the police announced that 446 people had been arrested for “disturbing public opinion, creating fear and anxiety in society, undermining mental security, propaganda for the enemy, and inciting and organizing security-disrupting elements online.”
The authorities have also been carrying out executions, including on politically motivated charges, heightening fears of mass, arbitrary, and secret executions under the shadow of the war. At least eight men were arbitrarily executed on charges such as “espionage,” “armed rebellion against the state through membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,” and “waging war on God” between March 18 and 31.
Interviewees, including relatives of prisoners, told researchers about the serious threats those detained face from the US and Israel’s military strikes as well as gross human rights violations by Iran’s authorities.
“Prisoners in Evin have been hearing loud and terrifying explosions,” said the relative of a prisoner in the notorious Evin Prison. “They have felt them to have been very close, but their access is even more limited [than people outside] to know where the strikes are actually happening ... one of the nights when there were terrible explosions … at around 2:00 a.m., they could feel over 20 explosion shock waves in their ward in the span of an hour.”
Police stations and security facilities run by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have been among the targets hit by Israel and US forces. Some of these facilities are commonly known to hold detainees, in particular those arrested for politically motivated charges, often held incommunicado and in circumstances that amount to enforced disappearances.
Those detained are also facing deteriorating prison conditions in a system already known for poor conditions and systematic and deliberate denial of medical care to prisoners. Sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Human Rights Watch that since the start of the armed conflict there had been a drop in both the quantity and quality of food and that prisoners were denied access to medication and medical care outside of prison.
“The amount of food prisoners receive has dropped and so has its quality,” a source said. “Even those who have severe medical conditions are not transferred outside [prison] for medical care … prisoners are not even taken to the prison clinic.”
Prisoners who protest deteriorating and unsafe prison conditions are at risk of reprisals and violence. The organizations received information that in at least three prisons, security forces have used force, including lethal force, to quash protests by prisoners who fear for their safety and/or object to poor prison conditions.
Iranian authorities have also been making repeated threats of further atrocities to prevent and stifle any form of dissent. On March 10, Ahmadreza Radan, the commander of the Islamic Republic’s police forces, known as FARAJA, warned, “we will not deem anyone who takes to the streets at the will of the enemies as a protester or anything else, but as the enemy [itself] and will [thus] treat them in the same manner that we would treat the enemy.” He said that security forces had “their fingers on the triggers.”
The next day, the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization issued a statement warning that any protests would be faced “with [even] a harsher blow than that of January 8,” when Iranian authorities carried out massacres of protesters.
Iran’s domestic regulations provide for humanitarian release at times of crisis. A 1986 resolution by the Supreme Judicial Council allows for the conditional release or release on bail of prisoners during wartime emergencies. In addition, article 201 of Iran’s Prisons Regulations provides for the release of prisoners in certain circumstances, for example during other times of “crisis such as natural disasters, unforeseeable incidents, or outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases.”
Under international humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, prisons and detention facilities are presumptively civilian objects. Serious laws of war violations committed by individuals with criminal intent—that is, deliberately or recklessly—are war crimes.
UN member states should press Iran’s authorities to immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained, halt all planned executions, and implement domestic regulations that allow for the release or temporary leave of prisoners on humanitarian grounds, the two organizations said. They should further urge all parties to the conflict to prioritize the protection of civilians.
“Instead of releasing prisoners, authorities are relentlessly arresting real and perceived dissidents and carrying out executions, once again putting on full display their absolute disregard for human life,” said Rebin Rahmani, a member of the broad of directors at Kurdistan Human Rights Network. “Many anxious families do not even know where their loved ones are being held as bombs and missiles hit different parts of cities on a daily basis.”
Risk of Death and Injuries Due to AirstrikesSince February 28, Israel and the US have carried out thousands of strikes across Iran. According to reports by relatives of detainees, media, and human rights organizations, a number of strikes have targeted locations in proximity to prisons, including Evin Prison and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Isfahan Central Prison in Isfahan province, Mahabad Prison in West Azerbaijan province, and Zanjan Central Prison in Zanjan province, while at least one, Marivan Prison in Kurdistan province, is reported to have been damaged as a result of a strike.
Relatives of Lindsay Foreman and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran since January 2025, have reported that on February 28 a strike near Evin Prison resulted in shattered windows and plaster raining down from the ceiling of the ward in which they were being held.
An informed source told Human Rights Watch that prisoners in Zanjan Central Prison, where the arbitrarily detained human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi is held, could also hear the sounds of airstrikes in the city and were terrified as they felt the explosion’s shock waves. On March 31, the Iranian Red Crecent said that its rescue teams had removed survivors from under the rubble after a strike on Zanjan’s Hossienieh Azam, which appears to be only several kilometers from the Zanjan Central Prison. According to information received by Human Rights Watch, Mohammadi’s health has been deteriorating in detention and she may have suffered a heart attack following denial of medical care.
A source with information about a prison in central Iran told the organizations, “The night when there was a strike nearby, everyone was terrified and the guards did nothing to reassure them.”
On March 13, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network raised concerns about the fate of detainees amid a wave of strikes on intelligence and security facilities across Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan provinces. One of the facilities reportedly struck was an IRGC-run intelligence center, Shahramfar base in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province. Based on extensive documentation by human rights organizations, the center has included a section used as a detention facility for decades.
An informed source, whose relative had once been held in Shahramfar, told Human Rights Watch that the detention center was a “terrifying facility” used to hold dissidents, and that at any given time, a group of concerned families would be standing outside to inquire about their detained loved ones. The source also said that there was no information about the fate and whereabouts of a friend who had been arrested during the protests and was subsequently held in Shahramfar.
During the Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025, Human Rights Watch documented an unlawful attack by the Israeli forces on Evin Prison, an apparent war crime. The attack resulted in the killing and injury of scores of civilians, including prisoners. Prior to the attack, Iran’s authorities refused to take measures to protect prisoners despite prisoners’ repeated pleas with judicial, prosecutorial, and prison officials to release them or grant them humanitarian leave.
Those arbitrarily detained in Iran include thousands of prisoners held for exercising their human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; people convicted following grossly unfair trials, which are systematic and widespread; and debt prisoners whose numbers are reported to be over ten thousand. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits the imprisonment of individuals who are unable to fulfill a contractual obligation.
Deteriorating Prison ConditionsDetainees, their families, and human rights organizations have also reported that the situation in prisons across the country, including in the provinces of Alborz, Fars, Gilan, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Qazvin, Qom, Razavi Khorasan, Tehran, West Azerbaijan, and Yazd, has been deteriorating. Prisoners face shortages of food and potable water, as well as limited access to basic necessities, medication, medical care, and visitation rights. Prison shops, where prisoners can buy goods such as food, are also reported to be facing shortages while their prices have significantly increased, so many prisoners can no longer afford them.
In a March 3 letter addressed to the head of the judiciary, the arbitrarily-detained human rights defender Reza Khandan wrotethat, “thousands of unlawfully detained prisoners are held in prisons without any reason, trapped under the threat of bombardments day and night, many services to prisoners have been cut off and if the war continues, shortages or [even] lack of food and hygiene [products] is foreseeable.”
One source with knowledge about a prison in western Iran said that prisoners whose medication for chronic illnesses is provided by their families will soon run out of medication if this situation continues, as families were prevented from visiting jailed loved ones and authorities had not distributed the items families had brought for the prisoners.
Another source with information about a facility in central Iran also said that they faced shortages of medication and that all “transfers to hospitals were cancelled … even a prisoner who fell seriously ill was not transferred outside [for medical care].”
Information received by the organizations from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary also points to a further deterioration of the facility’s already poor conditions, including overcrowding, reduction of food portions to half their regular size, and lack of access to potable water. An informed source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that detainees arrested in connection with the protests were held in three halls in the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, each holding 250 to 300 people. Several detainees had been taken to the prison with serious injuries, including bullet wounds, and prisoners were held in insect-infested wards without access to adequate medical care, the source said.
Media and human rights organizations reported that prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Alborz province have started a hunger strike to protest the deteriorating conditions, particularly the lack of access to sufficient food and medical care.
Prisoners and their familieshave also reported restrictions imposed by the authorities on visitation rights and contact with the outside world, which has further compounded their anxiety. “They have not allowed any family visits since the start of the war,” said one source with knowledge about a prison in western Iran.
“Prisoners who are mothers are particularly anxious for their children outside,” another source said.
Risk of Atrocities, Including Mass Arbitrary, Secret, and Summary ExecutionsSince the start of the armed conflict on February 28, which came in the wake of the countrywide massacres of protesters and bystanders on January 8 and 9, Iran’s authorities have repeatedly threatened further atrocities. These threats are made by high-ranking commanders and state institutions that orchestrated the January massacres, and, as such, should be treated as serious and imminent.
Detainees, many of whom have been arrested in connection with recent protests and held incommunicado or subjected to enforced disappearances remain particularly vulnerable and at risk of torture and ill-treatment. On March 24, the Baha’i International Community reported that authorities subjected Peyvand Naimi, a young Baha’i man arrested on January 8 in Kerman, to torture, including beatings, denial of food and water, prolonged solitary confinement, and mock executions on two occasions to coerce him into making self-incriminating statements.
Based on reports from families of prisoners and human rights organizations, some detainees have been transferred to undisclosed locations, further heightening fears about their fate and safety. In some cases, authorities have refused to provide families with any information about the detainees’ fate and whereabouts, thus subjecting them to enforced disappearances. On March 3, human rights organizations and families of prisoners reported that detainees held in section 209 of Evin Prison, which is controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence, had been transferred to an undisclosed location.
An informed source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that detainees, both men and women, held in Section 2A of Evin Prison, which is controlled by the IRGC, were transferred to an IRGC base for several days following the start of the conflict. Some detainees were subsequently taken to an official prison, but the source had no information about the others.
Based on information reviewed by Human Rights Watch and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the authorities have also significantly increased the presence of security forces in prisons. An informed source with knowledge about a prison in central Iran said that three weeks into the war, senior prison officials told prisoners that prison guards had “pre-authorized shooting orders.”
The source said that in addition to regular prison guards, anti-riot forces were deployed to the prison and authorities had tripled the number of guards stationed in the prison’s watch towers and at entrances. Another source with information about a prison in western Iran said that the prison was filled with security forces and that armed guards with rifles were stationed on the prison roof.
There have also been reported crackdowns within Iran’s detention facilities.
On March 5 and 6, Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that after a military strike in proximity to Mahabad Prison in West Azerbaijan province on March 3, security forces fired tear gas against prisoners who were scared and started protesting seeking to be released. Subsequently, 120 prisoners were transferred to the quarantine section of Miandoab Prison in the same province, where they were held in poor conditions without access to sufficient food.
Two Balochi human rights defenders who had spoken with families of prisoners, and other informed sources in Chabahar in Sistan and Balouchistan, said that security forces used force, including lethal force, after protest broke out in Chabahar Prison on March 18, reportedly killing and injuring several prisoners. The protests are reported to have started following several days without food.
Based on media reports, on March 2, following several strikes around the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, prisoners who attempted to leave their wards in fear were violently repressed. The strikes were reported to have resulted in shattered glasses and damage to walls.
Fears of mass, summary, secret, and arbitrary executions have also been increasing amid a significant escalation in the authorities’ use of the death penalty over the past years, particularly in 2025, including as a tool of political repression and an ongoing communications blackout that further hinders independent reporting.
On March 18, Mizan News Agency, owned and operated by Iran’s judiciary, announced that Kourosh Keyvani, a Swedish-Iranian dual national, had been executed for “intelligence cooperation and espionage in favor of the Israeli government.” Keyvani is reportedly the third man to be arbitrarily executed over allegations of espionage for or collaboration with Israel in 2026. At least 13 men were arbitrarily executed on similar charges in 2025, the vast majority after the 12-day armed conflict with Israel.
On March 19, Mizan News Agency announced that three people—the 19-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi and two other young men, Saeed Davoudi and Mehdi Ghassemi—had been executed earlier in the day over allegations of involvement in the deaths of two members of security forces during the nationwide protests of December 2025 and January 2026. Their arbitrary executions were carried out following grossly unfair and summary proceedings that lasted just over two months, from the time of arrest to the implementation of sentences.
Human Rights Watch reviewed the verdict issued by a criminal court in Qom against Mohammadi and Davoudi, which shows that both defendants retracted their “confessions” in court saying they were extracted under torture, but the court dismissed their testimony without any investigation. Human Rights Watch received information that Mohammadi was held in stress positions and beaten. Mizan News Agency reported that the executions were carried out “in the presence of a group of people in Qom,” indicating that they were carried out in public, in violation of the absolute prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment.
On March 30, authorities arbitrarily executedAli Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, on the charge of “armed rebellion through membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.” The next day, two other men, Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour, were executed on the same charges. The men, codefendants in one case, had been sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in Tehran following a grossly unfair trial.
Human rights organizations reported that the authorities did not provide advance notice to the men’s families and lawyers, in violation of both international law and Iran’s domestic regulations. Two other political prisoners sentenced to death in the same case, Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer, are at imminent risk of execution.
On March 31, Amnesty International reported that another five young men, Mohammad Amin Biglari, Ali Fahim, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Amirhossein Hatami, Shahin Vahedparast Kolo, had been transferred from Ghezel Hesar Prison to an undisclosed location, sparking fears of their imminent execution. All five were sentenced to death in connection with alleged offences committed in the context of the December 2025 and January 2026 protests.
Iranian authorities’ track record of committing mass atrocities in prisons has further heightened concerns for prisoners. In 1988, authorities extrajudicially executed thousands of imprisoned political dissidents in prisons across the country, known as the “1988 prison massacres.” The massacres constituted crimes against humanity.
Canada Should Speak Out on Uyghur Forced Labor in China
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s unwillingness to condemn forced labor in China risks reducing pressure on the Chinese government to end its repression of ethnic Uyghurs.
Responding to Member of Parliament Michael Ma’s comments casting doubts on reports of forced labor in China, Carney told the media on March 30 that Canada “takes issues of forced labor and child labor incredibly seriously.” But when asked directly whether forced labor is present in China, Carney said that “there are parts of China that are higher risk.”
Carney’s remarks ignore extensive and consistent documentation of state-imposed forced labor involving Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in China’s supply chains, including cotton, automotive, solar, and critical minerals. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and others have for several years reported on crimes against humanity by Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang region.
Carney’s comments also divert from past Canadian government statements expressing concern at forced labor in Xinjiang. In January 2021, Canada’s Global Affairs Ministry issued an advisory warning businesses of forced labor risks there.
In his remarks, Carney also said that “Canada has the most rigorous set of engagements” on child and forced labor. Carney’s government, however, has so far failed to adequately enforce legislation blocking products made with forced labor and has not acted on a proposed supply chain due diligence law modeled in part on legislation in the European Union.
Canada’s forced labor import restrictions also do not include a presumption that products produced in Xinjiang are linked to forced labor and cannot be imported, a key feature of the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. US authorities announced last month an investigation into the effectiveness of forced labor import restrictions in 60 countries, including Canada.
In the face of US President Donald Trump’s open hostility toward Canada, Carney has sought to strengthen Canada-China ties to diversify Canada’s trade partnerships. But any pivot toward China needs to prioritize human rights; otherwise, Canada risks facilitating a “low-rights” economy that increases economic, security, and governance risks for Canadian manufacturers and consumers.
As Prime Minister Carney takes Canada forward in a multipolar world, he should make clear that Canada’s foreign and trade policy will be grounded in human rights, including by unequivocally condemning Uyghur forced labor.
Former Army Spymasters Arrested in Bangladesh
Bangladesh police have arrested three former army officers linked to the military-backed government that ruled the country from 2007 to 2009, when hundreds were arbitrarily arrested and many were tortured or killed in custody. As the new government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman seeks to hold those responsible for past abuses to account, authorities should ensure due process, fair trials, and institutional reform to prevent violations from being repeated.
Recent investigations have implicated senior military and police officers in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, which was forced out in 2024 after widespread protests. Bangladeshi security forces have committed countless rights violations over recent decades against the perceived opponents of the government of the day, including previous Bangladesh National Party and army-backed administrations.
On March 23, police arrested Lt Gen (retd) Masud Uddin Chowdhury. Police have filed cases against him related to 11 alleged offenses, including murder, human trafficking, and fraud in connection with his later civilian career recruiting overseas workers. On March 26, retired Lt Gen (retd) Mamun Khaled, a former chief of Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency known as the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, was arrested on suspicion of crimes including murder and corruption. Mohammad Afzal Naser, another former military intelligence chief, was arrested on March 30, on suspicion of abuses during the suppression of the 2024 protests. All three were key figures during the 2007-2009 military-backed government.
The current prime minister, Tarique Rahman, was allegedly among those tortured during the 2007-2009 military rule. He later spent 17 years in exile before returning to Bangladesh in December and winning a landslide election victory in February.
To build a rights-respecting future, Bangladesh authorities should end military involvement in civilian law enforcement, reform security agencies, curtail surveillance powers, and strengthen the country’s National Human Rights Commission. The government should empower the police and courts to investigate and prosecute past violations without political interference.
Only a rigorous, rights-respecting process without political interference can ensure such crimes never happen again.
Gulf Countries: Conflict, Hardships Leave Migrants in Limbo
(Beirut) – Migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face additional risks to both their lives and their socioeconomic rights due to the current regional conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.
Migrant workers carry out jobs essential to the continued functioning of Gulf economies and services during the conflict, including delivering food and water, providing health care, and maintaining critical infrastructure. Yet some workers are unable to pay for everyday expenses due to loss of income, rising costs, and their lack of access to sufficient social services or social security.
“Millions of migrant workers employed across the Gulf countries are navigating threats to their physical safety and job security amid the conflict,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The conflict has brought new risks to migrant workers while also exposing the gaps in labor and other rights, including those enabled by the kafala (sponsorship) system.”
Gulf states should take emergency measures to mitigate and where necessary compensate for income loss, Human Rights Watch said. The crisis also highlights the urgent need for more structural measures, including to ensure that all workers are paid at least a living wage, that their contracts are respected, and that they can access social security benefits.
Gulf states should also ensure that workers seeking to return to their home countries voluntarily have airfare support. or coordinate with country of origin governments and airlines to provide affordable flight options.
In March 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 Indian, Nepali, and Bangladeshi migrant workers based in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. They are drivers, delivery workers, security guards, chefs, and cleaners, among the millions of migrant workers working in essential jobs that keep hospitals, markets, and transportation functioning despite heightened risks. Human Rights Watch spoke to family members of Bangladeshis who were killed in Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch wrote to all GCC countries to ask about these concerns, but none have provided substantive responses.
“My job is at a hospital, so the work has not stopped,” said a worker at a Qatar hospital. “Sometimes explosions come at night, sometimes during the day. Many thoughts keep running through my mind about what might happen … I have left my child back home.”
As of March 25, conflict-related deaths in Gulf countries have included migrant workers, among them a Pakistani driver, a Nepali security guard, and a Bangladeshi water-tanker driver, according to media and official government reporting. Others have been injured.
Saleh Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national, was killed in Ajman, UAE, after debris from an attack struck his cab in a water tank truck, piercing it and fatally injuring him, family members said. Another Bangladeshi, A.M. Tarek, was struck on the head while descending from a ship’s roof by shrapnel, which killed him instantly after finishing his night shift in Bahrain’s Hidd industrial area.
Human Rights Watch has long called for mandatory life insurance policies so deceased workers’ families are compensated, regardless of the cause, time and place of death.
One injured worker who narrowly escaped death said, “It feels like God saved me.… Otherwise, I would have died like a stray dog.… I feel angry because innocent workers like us are suffering for no reason.” The two workers Human Rights Watch interviewed who had been injured said they received adequate treatment at medical facilities.
While migrant workers acknowledged the effectiveness of Gulf air defense and warning systems in protecting their lives, workers also shared fears about the current security environment. One UAE-based migrant community leader said: “On one hand, migrants are working in fear. On the other, there is constant anxiety about losing jobs.”
“I’m afraid every time I go out to work,” said a Qatar-base delivery worker. “There’s no way of knowing where the next missile will land. But I go anyway.… People like me, we are thinking about one thing and one thing only: how to make the next 10 riyals.” When he receives alerts either from the government or his company’s WhatsApp group, he reroutes or goes home.
While he can log out of the app that assigns him delivery orders if he feels unsafe working, he is required to meet his contractual obligation with the labor supplier company of working 12 hours a day and delivering at least 10 orders.
“This is a commission-based job,” said a Kuwait-based taxi driver. We don’t have salary. The number of rides has dropped.” His daily earnings have been reduced by more than half and are not enough to cover his living and work-related expenses, including payments to the taxi owner, fuel, car maintenance, housing, and food.
Migrant workers based in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar reported increased food prices. They said that while bigger markets are under government scrutiny, low-paid workers generally shop from smaller shops including baqala (corner stores) that did not face the same level of government oversight. One Kuwait-based worker said, “What we used to spend for two months of food supplies won’t even last for one month now.” Workers listed current prices of food items that have doubled or tripled, including for vegetables.
Gulf state employers are required by domestic law to provide meals or food allowances to workers, in addition to wages. The amount is often inadequate even when there are no crises. For example, according to Qatari law, employers that do not provide food are required to provide a minimum allowance of 300 QAR (about US$82) every month, which has not been increased since 2021.
However, in some situations, migrant workers are compelled to cover their own food costs as well. This includes migrant workers who are undocumented, as well as workers who are on what are colloquially referred to as “free” (azad) visas, an arrangement in which companies or individuals sell their visa allocations to workers for profit.
A Bahrain-based unemployed Bangladeshi worker who is on “free visa” arrangement but struggling to find temporary jobs since the onset of the conflict said: “Sometimes I do not even have enough food to eat. Even if it is risky, I have to go out and look for work just to arrange food … but I cannot find any work. So far, I have already brought about 20,000 taka [about $163] from home to survive. I do not know how long this can continue or how long this conflict will last.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated a video shared directly with researchers showing scores of people gathered on a street in Bahrain who the person who took the video said, were waiting to be picked up by construction contractors for day-labor work.
A cab driver in Kuwait who pays 70 KD [about $226] every month to his sponsor under the “free visa” arrangement said: “My income has fallen to one-fifth of what it was and does not cover basic costs … Today, I drove for four hours and did not earn anything.”
Gulf states should assess the anticipated adverse economic impact of the crisis on migrant workers and ensure through emergency measures that all workers can realize their economic, social and cultural rights, such as food and housing.
Human Rights Watch also spoke to workers who are facing reduced work or pay or compulsory unpaid leave despite having two-year employment contracts.
Three UAE-based hospitality workers said that hotel occupancy rates have significantly dropped, so companies tell employees to clear pending vacations, take unpaid leaves until further notice, or terminate contracts. One UAE-based chef who still has his job said: “We are down to 3-4 staff from 25-30. Workers on unpaid leave until further notice unable to return home are provided company accommodation, but they must pay for their own food.”
A worker on unpaid leave said, “We don’t receive salary or benefits. The employer is encouraging us to go home but we have to pay for the ticket ourselves and prices are extremely high.”
An Abu Dhabi-based chef from Nepal said: “To lose a job after taking recruitment loans to come here is sad. People pay 300,000-400,000 Nepali Rupees [about $ 2,000-2,686] for these jobs.” Human Rights Watch has documented that most workers across the Gulf pay exorbitant recruitment fees financed via informal loans.
Even some migrant workers who were paid during the first month of the crisis expressed concerns about their job and income security. One Bahrain-based supply company manager said that three of his corporate clients have already told him to cut the salaries by half for over 400 workers.
A Kuwait-based migrant worker said that the restaurant he works in has had a sharp fall in customers and take-home orders: “Staff are working reduced hours and taking pay cuts accordingly. The airport is closed so going home is not an option. The option of traveling via Saudi Arabia is not affordable as ticket prices have skyrocketed.”
Under international human rights law, governments have an obligation to ensure that all workers, including migrant workers, in their countries are paid a fair wage and have access to social security to be able to realize their right to an adequate standard of living, including in times of crisis. Gulf states should also ensure that migrant worker communities are adequately informed about emergency plans and directions during times of crisis, including in workers’ native languages.
Employers should uphold their contractual obligations despite the war, Human Rights Watch said. Businesses vulnerable to externalities in sectors like tourism should also activate contingency plans that acknowledge the inherent instability of the industry and protect workers during business downturns and not shift the burden entirely to the workers, who have families to feed and loans to repay.
Migrants unable to work as per the contract should continue to receive their contractually owed wages. Governments should prioritize supporting small and medium sized enterprises to ensure that they do not pass the business disruption costs to the lowest-paid migrant workers.
“Governments and employers should take concrete steps to protect workers caught in the crossfire thousands of miles from home and who despite significant risks are doing essential jobs across the Gulf,” Page said.
Gulf Countries: Conflict, Hardships Leave Migrants in Limbo
(Beirut) – Migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face additional risks to both their lives and their socioeconomic rights due to the current regional conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.
Migrant workers carry out jobs essential to the continued functioning of Gulf economies and services during the conflict, including delivering food and water, providing health care, and maintaining critical infrastructure. Yet some workers are unable to pay for everyday expenses due to loss of income, rising costs, and their lack of access to sufficient social services or social security.
“Millions of migrant workers employed across the Gulf countries are navigating threats to their physical safety and job security amid the conflict,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The conflict has brought new risks to migrant workers while also exposing the gaps in labor and other rights, including those enabled by the kafala (sponsorship) system.”
Gulf states should take emergency measures to mitigate and where necessary compensate for income loss, Human Rights Watch said. The crisis also highlights the urgent need for more structural measures, including to ensure that all workers are paid at least a living wage, that their contracts are respected, and that they can access social security benefits.
Gulf states should also ensure that workers seeking to return to their home countries voluntarily have airfare support. or coordinate with country of origin governments and airlines to provide affordable flight options.
In March 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 Indian, Nepali, and Bangladeshi migrant workers based in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. They are drivers, delivery workers, security guards, chefs, and cleaners, among the millions of migrant workers working in essential jobs that keep hospitals, markets, and transportation functioning despite heightened risks. Human Rights Watch spoke to family members of Bangladeshis who were killed in Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch wrote to all GCC countries to ask about these concerns, but none have provided substantive responses.
“My job is at a hospital, so the work has not stopped,” said a worker at a Qatar hospital. “Sometimes explosions come at night, sometimes during the day. Many thoughts keep running through my mind about what might happen … I have left my child back home.”
As of March 25, conflict-related deaths in Gulf countries have included migrant workers, among them a Pakistani driver, a Nepali security guard, and a Bangladeshi water-tanker driver, according to media and officialgovernmentreporting. Others have been injured.
Saleh Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national, was killed in Ajman, UAE, after debris from an attack struck his cab in a water tank truck, piercing it and fatally injuring him, family members said. Another Bangladeshi, A.M. Tarek, was struck on the head while descending from a ship’s roof by shrapnel, which killed him instantly after finishing his night shift in Bahrain’s Hidd industrial area.
Human Rights Watch has long called for mandatory life insurance policies so deceased workers’ families are compensated, regardless of the cause, time and place of death.
One injured worker who narrowly escaped death said, “It feels like God saved me.… Otherwise, I would have died like a stray dog.… I feel angry because innocent workers like us are suffering for no reason.” The two workers Human Rights Watch interviewed who had been injured said they received adequate treatment at medical facilities.
While migrant workers acknowledged the effectiveness of Gulf air defense and warning systems in protecting their lives, workers also shared fears about the current security environment. One UAE-based migrant community leader said: “On one hand, migrants are working in fear. On the other, there is constant anxiety about losing jobs.”
“I’m afraid every time I go out to work,” said a Qatar-base delivery worker. “There’s no way of knowing where the next missile will land. But I go anyway.… People like me, we are thinking about one thing and one thing only: how to make the next 10 riyals.” When he receives alerts either from the government or his company’s WhatsApp group, he reroutes or goes home.
While he can log out of the app that assigns him delivery orders if he feels unsafe working, he is required to meet his contractual obligation with the labor supplier company of working 12 hours a day and delivering at least 10 orders.
“This is a commission-based job,” said a Kuwait-based taxi driver. We don’t have salary. The number of rides has dropped.” His daily earnings have been reduced by more than half and are not enough to cover his living and work-related expenses, including payments to the taxi owner, fuel, car maintenance, housing, and food.
Migrant workers based in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar reported increased food prices. They said that while bigger markets are under government scrutiny, low-paid workers generally shop from smaller shops including baqala (corner stores) that did not face the same level of government oversight. One Kuwait-based worker said, “What we used to spend for two months of food supplies won’t even last for one month now.” Workers listed current prices of food items that have doubled or tripled, including for vegetables.
Gulf state employers are required by domestic law to provide meals or food allowances to workers, in addition to wages. The amount is often inadequate even when there are no crises. For example, according to Qatari law, employers that do not provide food are required to provide a minimum allowance of 300 QAR (about US$82) every month, which has not been increased since 2021.
However, in some situations, migrant workers are compelled to cover their own food costs as well. This includes migrant workers who are undocumented, as well as workers who are on what are colloquially referred to as “free” (azad) visas, an arrangement in which companies or individuals sell their visa allocations to workers for profit.
A Bahrain-based unemployed Bangladeshi worker who is on “free visa” arrangement but struggling to find temporary jobs since the onset of the conflict said: “Sometimes I do not even have enough food to eat. Even if it is risky, I have to go out and look for work just to arrange food … but I cannot find any work. So far, I have already brought about 20,000 taka [about $163] from home to survive. I do not know how long this can continue or how long this conflict will last.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated a video shared directly with researchers showing scores of people gathered on a street in Bahrain who the person who took the video said, were waiting to be picked up by construction contractors for day-labor work.
A cab driver in Kuwait who pays 70 KD [about $226] every month to his sponsor under the “free visa” arrangement said: “My income has fallen to one-fifth of what it was and does not cover basic costs … Today, I drove for four hours and did not earn anything.”
Gulf states should assess the anticipated adverse economic impact of the crisis on migrant workers and ensure through emergency measures that all workers can realize their economic, social and cultural rights, such as food and housing.
Human Rights Watch also spoke to workers who are facing reduced work or pay or compulsory unpaid leave despite having two-year employment contracts.
Three UAE-based hospitality workers said that hotel occupancy rates have significantly dropped, so companies tell employees to clear pending vacations, take unpaid leaves until further notice, or terminate contracts. One UAE-based chef who still has his job said: “We are down to 3-4 staff from 25-30. Workers on unpaid leave until further notice unable to return home are provided company accommodation, but they must pay for their own food.”
A worker on unpaid leave said, “We don’t receive salary or benefits. The employer is encouraging us to go home but we have to pay for the ticket ourselves and prices are extremely high.”
An Abu Dhabi-based chef from Nepal said: “To lose a job after taking recruitment loans to come here is sad. People pay 300,000-400,000 Nepali Rupees [about $ 2,000-2,686] for these jobs.” Human Rights Watch has documented that most workers across the Gulf pay exorbitant recruitment fees financed via informal loans.
Even some migrant workers who were paid during the first month of the crisis expressed concerns about their job and income security. One Bahrain-based supply company manager said that three of his corporate clients have already told him to cut the salaries by half for over 400 workers.
A Kuwait-based migrant worker said that the restaurant he works in has had a sharp fall in customers and take-home orders: “Staff are working reduced hours and taking pay cuts accordingly. The airport is closed so going home is not an option. The option of traveling via Saudi Arabia is not affordable as ticket prices have skyrocketed.”
Under international human rights law, governments have an obligation to ensure that all workers, including migrant workers, in their countries are paid a fair wage and have access to social security to be able to realize their right to an adequate standard of living, including in times of crisis. Gulf states should also ensure that migrant worker communities are adequately informed about emergency plans and directions during times of crisis, including in workers’ native languages.
Employers should uphold their contractual obligations despite the war, Human Rights Watch said. Businesses vulnerable to externalities in sectors like tourism should also activate contingency plans that acknowledge the inherent instability of the industry and protect workers during business downturns and not shift the burden entirely to the workers, who have families to feed and loans to repay.
Migrants unable to work as per the contract should continue to receive their contractually owed wages. Governments should prioritize supporting small and medium sized enterprises to ensure that they do not pass the business disruption costs to the lowest-paid migrant workers.
“Governments and employers should take concrete steps to protect workers caught in the crossfire thousands of miles from home and who despite significant risks are doing essential jobs across the Gulf,” Page said.
US Central Command Contradicts Cluster Munition Policy
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, condemned on March 17 Iran’s “reckless” use of cluster munitions, calling it an “inherently indiscriminate type of munition.” Human Rights Watch has also confirmed Iran’s use of these weapons in March in populated civilian areas in Israel, which may amount to war crimes.
While Admiral Cooper’s condemnation contradicts current US policy, it could reflect a shift in how the military views cluster munitions.
His comments are in line with the Convention on Cluster Munitions, adopted by 124 states, which recognizes the weapons’ inherently indiscriminate nature. Cluster munitions typically open in the air, dispersing dozens or hundreds of explosive submunitions or bomblets over a wide area in a way that cannot discriminate between combatants and civilians. At times, bomblets fail to detonate on impact, in effect acting like landmines, waiting for someone to trigger them. Whenever they detonate, bomblets spread hundreds or even thousands of preformed metal fragments.
Although the US military last used cluster munitions in a strike in Yemen in 2009, it has retained the right to use them and maintains stockpiles of these weapons.
The most recent US policy, dating back to President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017, indefinitely delays a phased ban on the United States using what it terms “unreliable” types of cluster munitions. The ban—introduced in 2008 and meant to take full effect in 2019—defines “unreliable” cluster munitions as those with a detonation failure rate of more than 1 percent.
And the United States has continued to sell and acquire other, more apparently “reliable,” types of the munitions, such as those which it says have a failure rate of less than 1 percent. In 2023, President Joe Biden approved a series of transfers of cluster munitions to Ukraine that were transferred via Germany and Poland. Reports emerged in February 2026 that the Pentagon had signed a deal worth at least US$210 million to acquire these weapons from an Israeli government-owned manufacturer.
The United States should immediately destroy its stockpiles, cancel deals to buy more cluster munitions, and confirm the US won’t transfer or use these weapons. Unless such action is taken, any condemnation of an adversary’s use of the weapon will lack credibility
Russia: Internet Shutdowns Escalate
(Berlin, March 31, 2026) – Russian authorities increasingly impose broad mobile internet shutdowns under the pretext of public safety, Human Rights Watch said today. Over the past month, they blocked mobile internet and cellular access in areas of Moscow and Saint Petersburg for almost three weeks.
On March 29, 2026, police detained at least 14 people at a peaceful protest against internet restrictions in Moscow, and 5 more people in other cities. Two said they were beaten. The authorities banned the protests in at least 40 cities across Russia under false pretexts. They also arrested and threatened organizers ahead of the planned rallies.
“Russia’s internet shutdowns and the crackdown on peaceful protesters are blatant violations of Russia’s obligations to respect freedom of expression, of information and of assembly,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
On March 5, internet users in mostly central and southern parts of Moscow reported unavailable cellular network and mobile internet. Mobile service providers said that the issues were due to “externally” imposed restrictions. Users reported that connectivity varied within the affected areas, sometimes from street to street.
On March 11, Dmitry Peskov, a presidential spokesperson, said that “all recent connection and internet restrictions in Moscow were introduced in accordance with [Russia’s] legal framework and aim at ensuring the safety of Russian citizens.” He also said the measures would remain in place for “as long as necessary to ensure the citizens’ safety.”
On March 9, the authorities began blocking mobile internet in Saint Petersburg and the neighboring Leningrad region, following an announcement by the Leningrad region governor about a possible internet slowdown due to the threat of drone attacks by Ukraine.
On March 24, the mobile internet reportedly became available in Moscow. But internet users in Saint Petersburg continued reporting issues accessing the internet, coinciding with the announcement of air raid and internet slowdown state alerts by the Russian System for Warning and Action in Emergency Situations.
Russian authorities have been blocking mobile internet in many regions due to drone attacks since at least spring 2025. The Moscow Times reported that Russia had the most mobile internet shutdowns of any country in 2025.
Human Rights Watch spoke to seven people who confirmed protracted mobile internet blocking in Orel, Vladimir, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novorossiysk, and Moscow. In some regions mobile internet access has been restricted for more than six months. In Nizhniy Novgorod, the authorities have been restricting mobile internet access since May 2025. Regional authorities cited the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks as justification. Ukrainian areas occupied by Russia have also faced such shutdowns.
Mobile internet blocking, especially coupled with a lack of cellular access, affects rights and freedoms of internet users, preventing them from accessing basic services. During the March blocking in Moscow, users could not connect to messengers and maps, use ATMs or taxi apps or pay for services via card machines if they were not connected to landline internet. Users often could not access public Wi-Fi. According to some estimates, Russian businesses lost 1 billion rubles for every day of the Moscow shutdown.
During the recent mobile internet shutdowns, mobile service providers sent out notifications outlining the lists of websites, the so-called whitelists, that should remain accessible when the internet was blocked, but users said that at times, even these censored resources would not load.
The “whitelists,” announced by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media in August 2025, were to include “all resources essential to everyday life,” said the minister, Maksut Shadayev. In September, the first version of the lists was published, including the websites of state media, state services online, government agencies, Russian social media and streaming platforms transparent to the government. It has been expanded several times to include online shops, food delivery, major taxi services, banks, and other services.
While the criteria for getting on the list are not fully clear, the Ministry compiles it “in consultation with state bodies responsible for security.” All the listed resources are registered and have infrastructure based in Russia, and are obligated under Russian law to share information with state agencies.
Sergei Boyarskiy, head of the State Duma Committee on Informational Technology, Communications and Policies, said that Russian messenger MAX, for instance, is included on the lists as it cooperated with Russian state bodies via closed channels, while Telegram, a foreign platform that authorities have taken steps toward banning, was predictably not included.
The switch to whitelists is an incremental shift in Russia’s online censorship. Previously, authorities fully or partially blocked access to specific sites. The latest approach introduces new challenges to circumventing censorship and accessing information, Human Rights Watch said.
On March 26, Boyarskiy said that internet shutdowns were a “new norm” and shutdowns without access to even whitelisted sources were also possible.
Prior to the March 29 protests, regional authorities in 40 cities rejected notifications of planned assemblies to protest blockings, with bogus pretexts such as COVID-related restrictions, threats of terrorism or drone attacks, snow, tree inspections, repair works, sports festivals, and other government events. Authorities in Yakutsk issued a blanket ban on all events to protest internet restrictions due to “increased attention from malicious actors.”
In the days before March 29, law enforcement searched homes, detained organizers, and issued “warnings” against “violating the law.” Five organizers were sentenced to 15 days of detention for allegedly disobeying law enforcement in Moscow, an administrative offense; a Rostov rally organizer was sentenced to 10 days of detention and was allegedly beaten in custody.
According to International Telecommunication Union data from 2024, internet usage in Russia is predominantly through mobile broadband connections. While landline internet has not been affected to the same extent recently, government internet censorship technology facilitates full landline internet blockings, including by the Federal Security Services without a court order.
The increasing blocking in Russia violates the right to seek, receive, and provide information and ideas through all media, including the internet. Any restrictions imposed on internet access and related communications, whether in the context of potential Ukrainian drone attacks or otherwise, must have a proper legal basis, and be both necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate purpose. The protracted internet shutdowns and cell networks shutdown across the regions of Russia, as well as in Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine, cannot be justified and do not comply with international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said.
Russian authorities should restore unrestricted access to the internet and communications networks and end the prosecution of peaceful protesters against internet shutdowns. The international community, foreign governments, and technology companies should support the groups working to ensure access to information online and censorship circumvention.
“A government has no legitimacy to determine what is ‘essential’ for an average internet user in Russia or limit internet access to a handful of state-approved resources,” Williamson said. “Neither should it prevent people from peacefully protesting its assault on their right to access an open and free internet.”